Destruction Warlock Battleground Blitz Guide — Midnight Season 1

Destruction Warlocks can excel in Battleground Blitz due to the burst damage it can dish out.

You can choose three of the following PvP talents. These should be switched out depending on the matchup.

Soul Rip causes nearby enemies to deal 25% less damage and reduce their healing received by 25%. Enemies can pick up their 'Soul' to remove the effect, however, this talent helps to create some space for the Destruction Warlock.

Impish Instincts reduces the cooldown of your Demonic Circle: Teleport by 3 seconds when you take Physical damage with an internal cooldown of 5 seconds. This, in synergy with Abyss Walker, makes this PvP talent a very good pick against melee teams who target you.

Nether Ward surrounds the caster with a shield that lasts 3 sec, reflecting all harmful spells cast on you. This is a crucial talent to take against all casters. You also want to use this talent versus teams with a Shaman or Death Knight. This is because their kicks are magical, and this will prevent you from being interrupted while it is active.

Shadow Rift allows you to cast an area-of-effect around the enemy, as long as you are in your Demonic Circle: Teleport range. After 2 seconds, you will teleport any enemies inside this circle to your Demonic Circle: Teleport. This ability has many creative uses and can prevent enemy teams from hiding behind a pillar or teleport melee away from you.

Bonds of Fel encircles enemies in a location. If they leave the circle, the bonds will explode and deal a significant amount of damage.

In Battleground Blitz, Destruction Warlocks primarily focuses on bursting priority targets while trying to CC enemy healers. A Destruction Warlock should aim to position at max range and cast as freely as possible, dishing out as many Chaos Bolts on priority targets as possible.

Destruction Warlocks should not defend a base and should look to kill enemy priority targets such as flag carriers or protecting your team's flag carrier.

Destruction Warlocks should attempt to stay at max range and focus on dealing as much damage as possible, rather than pushing in to melee range. Apply Wither to the entire enemy team with Cataclysm and then trying to chain as many Chaos Bolt during procs as possible on priority targets.

In Battleground Blitz, there is no dampening effect. As such, burst damage and crowd control or running healers out of mana through damage are the ways to score kills and pull ahead. Destruction does not have any great CC but can still participate with Spell Lock while bursting. Shadowfury and Howl of Terror are good to use on cooldown, however Fear should only be used in desperate situations. Focusing on dealing damage is much more important.

When playing a defensive role such as on Temple of Kotmogu, applying Curse of Exhaustion to players to slow them is recommended, or Fear to assist your orb carrier in kiting.

Destruction mainly offers utility in the form of Demonic Gateway and Healthstone. Casting a Create Soulwell often is a good idea, as well as positioning your Demonic Gateway preferably between Z-axises to give your team a positional advantage. For example, between the river in Twin Peaks or from the lower to upper level in the flag room.

Destruction Warlock is very weak defensively and can die pretty fast when targeted, so it is important to position at max range in order to avoid being swapped to as easily. Remeber to place a Demonic Circle in the far back as well as insurance to drag enemy melee deeper if you are chased.

Additionally, Warlocks can now use 3 charges of Healthstone in combat, and this should be empowered by Soulburn.

Destruction Warlocks have some of the worst mobility in the game and, therefore, should avoid being a flag carrier. Instead, protecting the flag carrier or participating in team fights is a much better alternative.

While protecting your team's flag carrier, spamming Curse of Exhaustion on every enemy helps to peel them and allows you to stay ahead as you will likely not be targeted.

At the start of a Capture the Flag map, you should follow your team and join the team fight, setting up a Demonic Circle and dealing as much damage as possible until you win or lose the fight. When your flag carrier brings the flag through mid, protecting them by peeling with damage and Curse of Exhaustion.

Before a Resource Race battleground starts, you should decide with your team which base you should focus on first.

As a Destruction Warlock, you should never be defending as the spec is very weak in 1v1 scenarios. Instead, look to follow your team and join the team fight. Set up your Demonic Circle in the back and focus on dealing the most damage you can.

Again, it is important to follow your team into the big fight, which usually takes place at the flag in the middle. Join the team fight and deal as much damage as you can until one side takes the edge. Remember, on a map like this, you can opt to take Shadow Rift in order to synergise with any knock effects on your team to win the mid fight.

Ranged DPS specializations will always be the best orb carriers on Temple of Kotmogu. Although Destruction is generally not a good flag carrier spec, Temple of Kotmogu can be an exception.

Being able to set up port upstairs and jump into the centre to gain more points and Demonic Circle out of danger while your DoTs deal damage makes Destruction not a bad choice. Additionally, Destruction Warlock with Curse of Exhaustion and using instant cast abilities will deal a lot of damage. Wither also excels in this situation.

If your team does not wish you to pick up an orb, treat this as any other battleground and focus on dealing as much damage as possible while remembering to Curse of Exhaustionon enemy players chasing after your orb carriers.

The stat priority for Destruction Warlock in PvP is as follows:

1. Intellect
2. Haste
3. Versatility
4. Mastery
5. Critical Strike